The yeast that grows on fermenting fruit and that is the main food source of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster can sometimes harbour harmful microbes. How do fruitflies recognize which yeasts are safe and which are coated in dangerous micro-organisms? Geosmin is an aversive odourant that is produced by numerous harmful microbes, and a new study finds that the circuitry activated by this compound is functionally segregated and involves a single class of olfactory sensory neuron. This circuit is conserved across the Drosophila genus and provides a mechanism for avoiding potentially dangerous environments.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Stensmyr, M. C. et al. A conserved dedicated olfactory circuit for detecting harmful microbes in Drosophila. Cell 151, 1345–1357 (2012)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lewis, S. Discriminating taste from waste. Nat Rev Neurosci 14, 78 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3431
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3431